comparison DOCS/xml/en/video.xml @ 31754:9d692c29d2cb

Remove MTRR section from video output chapter. The information it contains should be irrelevant in 2010.

31753:56f42d418bea

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- $Revision$ -->
<chapter id="video">
<title>Video output devices</title>

<sect1 id="mtrr">
<title>Setting up MTRR</title>

<para>
It is VERY recommended to check if the MTRR registers
are set up properly, because they can give a big performance boost.
</para>

<para>
Do a <command>cat /proc/mtrr</command>:
<screen>
<prompt>--($:~)--</prompt> cat /proc/mtrr
reg00: base=0xe4000000 (3648MB), size=  16MB: write-combining, count=9
reg01: base=0xd8000000 (3456MB), size= 128MB: write-combining, count=1<!--
--></screen>
</para>

<para>
It's right, shows my Matrox G400 with 16MB memory. I did this from
XFree 4.x.x, which sets up MTRR registers automatically.
</para>

<para>
If nothing worked, you have to do it manually. First, you have to find the
base address. You have 3 ways to find it:

<orderedlist>
<listitem><para>
  from X11 startup messages, for example:
  <screen>
(--) SVGA: PCI: Matrox MGA G400 AGP rev 4, Memory @ 0xd8000000, 0xd4000000
(--) SVGA: Linear framebuffer at 0xD8000000<!--
  --></screen>
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  from <filename>/proc/pci</filename> (use <command>lspci -v</command>
  command):
  <screen>
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Matrox Graphics, Inc.: Unknown device 0525
Memory at d8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable)<!--
  --></screen>
</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>
  from mga_vid kernel driver messages (use <command>dmesg</command>):
  <screen>mga_mem_base = d8000000</screen>
</para></listitem>
</orderedlist>
</para>

<para>
Then let's find the memory size. This is very easy, just convert video RAM
size to hexadecimal, or use this table:
<informaltable frame="none">
<tgroup cols="2">
<tbody>
  <row><entry>1 MB</entry><entry>0x100000</entry></row>
  <row><entry>2 MB</entry><entry>0x200000</entry></row>
  <row><entry>4 MB</entry><entry>0x400000</entry></row>
  <row><entry>8 MB</entry><entry>0x800000</entry></row>
  <row><entry>16 MB</entry><entry>0x1000000</entry></row>
  <row><entry>32 MB</entry><entry>0x2000000</entry></row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</informaltable>
</para>

<para>
You know base address and memory size, let's setup MTRR registers!
For example, for the Matrox card above (<literal>base=0xd8000000</literal>)
with 32MB ram (<literal>size=0x2000000</literal>) just execute:
<screen>
echo "base=0xd8000000 size=0x2000000 type=write-combining" &gt; /proc/mtrr
</screen>
</para>

<para>
Not all CPUs have MTRRs. For example older K6-2 (around 266MHz,
stepping 0) CPUs don't have MTRRs, but stepping 12 does
(execute <command>cat /proc/cpuinfo</command> to check it).
</para>
</sect1>


<!-- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -->


<sect1 id="xv">
<title>Xv</title>

<para>

31754:9d692c29d2cb

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!-- $Revision$ -->
<chapter id="video">
<title>Video output devices</title>

<sect1 id="xv">
<title>Xv</title>

<para>